Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

query: serial verb constructions?

From:Yoon Ha Lee <yl112@...>
Date:Tuesday, January 9, 2001, 3:24
I'm trying to come up with a closed class of verbs for serial verb
constructions in Arakis, and so far have come up with:

transcription: theoretically Kirschenbaum, except since I can't get online
long enough to check, I'm using N for "ng" (velar nasal?), C for the palatal
fricative, r for the alveolar flap or trill

(I am exiled from the modem except for *very* brief periods of time due to
the fact that my sister is trapped in Korea--her classes have already
started at Stanford--and trying to find a flight out due to the snowstorm
that screwed up all the flight schedules this week.)

(A few days doing exercises in the 7th edition of _The Language Files_ was
definitely worth it, though I still suck at the phonological analysis
problems.  Something to aspire toward.)

mipali: at/during a place/time (from mepalu, to be located at)
picati: into a building or dwelling (from pecatu, to dwell at)
xirasi: until/up to a place/time (from xeratu, to finish)
Nifani: through or into (from Nefanu, to stab or pierce)
kiCari: to a person or spirit  (from keCaru, to give)
  (the Arakis-speakers are vaguely animistic)
kicali: under, beneath, below (from kecalu, to bow or submit)
tisari: over, above (from tesaru, to command or lead)

I'm starting to run out of steam, alas.  If anyone could point me toward a
website or book that discusses languages with serial verb constructions with
*lots* of examples for inspiration, I would be exceedingly grateful.

Hope y'all are having better weather than we are!  (Okay, I suppose the snow
here seems wimpy to some of you--it sure seems wimpy to my friends in New
York state--but darnit, it *never* snows a lot in South Korea....)

Yoon Ha Lee
http://yhl.freeservers.com

How firm the stones feel
there beneath my sandaled feet
until the earthquake...

from Little Sister, by Kara Dalkey